Surprising New Poll on Evangelicals and Religious Exceptions

Aghast (like you) in the face of the latest outbreaks of raw tribalism (an orchestrated tribalism, let us remember), I take considerable solace from any hint that Americans can still agree on commonsense principles that have in them at least an imputation of moral sensibility.

Our friends at the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) have just dropped the results of polling done in late August/early September (before the epochal Ford-Kavanaugh standoff).

PRRI founder and CEO Robbie Jones notes in the press release that “partisanship trumps gender” in respect to the proportion of GOP vs. Democratic voters who would support a candidate accused of sexual harassment (not sexual assault, please note).

And yes, here the news is depressing in that all-too-familiar way. While six out of ten Americans would not vote for an accused candidate, the number drops to 41% of GOP women and 28% of GOP men. Worse, 56% of the Republicans polled said they would consider supporting a candidate facing multiple accusations of harassment.